Author - John Coyne

Here is a conversation I recently had with Aaron Barlow, author of  Hard as Kerosene published by Peace Corps writers. — JC • Aaron, where were you a PCV? In Togo from 1988 to 1990. . Where are you from in the States? Though I was born in North Carolina, I grew up primarily in the Midwest, with stops back South and in the Northeast. I attended Beloit College in Wisconsin for my undergraduate degree and the University of Iowa for my MA and PhD. . Then you joined the Peace Corps? No. I had spent two years in Burkina Faso as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer and had met many PCVs and admired them all. From them, I learned that there is much more to African life than can be found in the cities. I joined so that I could live in a village and discover a part of Africa . . .

Somehow: Living on Uganda Time by Douglas Cruickshank (Uganda 2009-12) Verflectin Media, San Francisco http://douglascruickshank.com/ $60.00 400 pages 2013 Reviewed by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) Douglas Cruickshank’s Somehow: Living on Uganda Time, is a big book, and its 400 pages of photos and text are heavy, amazingly so. Not as in ‘heavy going’, but as in profoundly engrossing. To both the author-photographer and his friends the Ugandans, it is heavy with special meanings; stimulating, fascinating, captivating and… You get the idea. When he joined the Peace Corps and went to Uganda Douglas Cruickshank was 56 and had recently downsized his life. He called it the “Great Shedding of Things”, having sold and given away most of his possessions and encumbrances – except his camera, a sense of adventure and his way of seeing and capturing the essence of life digitally. He entered Uganda as a stranger in a strange land, . . .

Peace Corps Mojo by Bob Criso (Nigeria & Somalia 1966-68) What would our diplomatic service be like if one of the qualifications was prior Peace Corps service? We have West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy which prepare us for war but how about a Peace Corps Academy? What if the Peace Corps included the element of exchange and a teacher from Kenya was swapped with one from Ohio? What about a Peace Corps Memorial in Washington?What would our diplomatic service be like if one of the qualifications was prior Peace Corps service? We have West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy which prepare us for war but how about a Peace Corps Academy? What if the Peace Corps included the element of exchange and a teacher from Kenya was swapped with one from Ohio? What about a Peace Corps Memorial in Washington? These were just a few . . .

on the road past Thrumsing La Bhutan’s wild mountain spirits by Don Messerschmidt “many, many foggies” says my driver, grinning as we enter soup-thick cloud along the bluff below the pass called Thrumsing La Dochen has that way of speaking English, laughingly so jovially therapeutic he sets the tone for what’s an otherwise long rough mountain ride across Bhutan up-down-around the twisting road sometimes dull and foggy but in clear sun the view is bold with naked cliffs streaked white by mountain freshets tumbling sheer from secret groves above where jade green moss, grey lichen and long strands of mist lay still, whispering if you listen with startling clarity from nature’s pure primeval soul surely kindly ghosts inhabit this ancient sacred land and sometimes, while traversing east across the royal road, each turn, each vista is ablaze with rhododendron scarlet, pink, yellow, mauve, and ivory magnolia, and birds on iridescent . . .

In Search of Decency: The Unexpected Power of Rich and Poor by Michael Heyn (Peru 1964-66) Matador $21.99 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) 368 pages August 2013 Reviewed by Ken Hill (Turkey 1965-67) Mr. Heyn’s diary shares a life lived mostly abroad, across 15 countries on four continents, with United Nations programs as well as personal ventures and occasional assignments at the UN in New York.  The saga is spiced by adventures in cultural adaptation, crisis management, intrigue and some legitimate danger! Graced with an enviable education, the author meets and marries, serves in Peace Corps, begins a family but divorces upon discovering a soul-mate with whom he travels the globe to serve human needs. He relates examples of remarkable adaptation and innovation throughout this life story and is admirably candid about successes and failures, displaying an admirable ability to learn from his experiences. A child of the 60’s, the author ponders . . .

I received a note from Peter Lefcourt (Togo 1962-64) that a film he wrote two years ago entitled  “Sweet Talk,”  is now available on various PPV and VOD platforms.  You can order it on Time/Warner, Comcast, Dish, Amazon Video, Vids, Hulu, and ( for the Canadians), Rogers and Shaw.  You can download it directly from iTunes at this link: http://bit.ly/16neY3C The film was directed  by Terri Hanauer, and stars Nathalie Zea, Jeffrey Vincent Parise, Lindsey Hollister, Karen Austin, Time Winters, and John Glover. “It is about the transformative power of story telling, among other things, and we are very proud of it,” writes Peter. He goes onto say, “Look at it this way: usually when wedo a play, you have to plunk down $25 and schlep to a theater with bad parking .  Now all you have to do is press a button, part with 12 bucks, the price of a martini, sit . . .